[A] July 7-11: Nice/Chateau Vignelaure/Cassis

Nice- July 7
Our Wednesday excursion to Nice was another great break from the weekly class schedule. We left early enough to make the two hour drive worthwhile. The first stop we made was at the Chagall Museum, just outside of town. Chagall was a familiar name to me, as my mother had at one mal-appraised estate sale happened upon one of his unrecognized self-portraits, which now hangs in our kitchen. I appreciate the story-telling role of his colors as explained by our guide, who had colors of her own emanating from her stereotypically hairy underarms, the only unpleasant part of our excursion. Here is Chagall's "Abraham and the Three Angels," part of a twelve panel biblical series depicting Genesis and Exodus.

We then took our bus back down near the coast and were released to the wild for lunch. On a pedestrian street, the girls and I found a cheap, fantastic meal. I had roasted duck. I would give it a 9.1/10. We walked down to the beach, where we swam and played with the rocks that comprised it. I forgot to wait an hour before I swam. Suddenly exceedingly aware of the position of the food I had just eaten, I realized the merit of that adage. I re-entered the water after appropriate rest.

Later we got ice cream near where we ate lunch, and walked along the English-made boardwalk until it was time to reboard the bus for home. Nice was worth visiting, and probably revisiting. It is, however, the south beach of France. Take that as you may.

On Saturday, a portion of our group took a day trip to the country surrounding Aix for a tour of Chateau Vignelaure, a local vineyard. We had already been introduced to the owner of the vineyard through a series of oeneology (wine-tasting) sessions sponsored by Vanderbilt. This tour served as the capstone. The vineyard itself was very modern, and reflected the increasingly chemistry-driven nature of the modern wine industry. The last stage of the process was the placement of wine in huge metal casks, where they were monitored for temperature, acidity, and alcohol content. There were, however, rustic components, as with the wooden barrels shown above. I did not realize until then that the "oaky" flavor of many Chardonnay's and other pale wines came not from the grape but from the distiling container. That makes sense.

There was a hall that featured work by any recognized artist willing to trade a piece for a quantity of wine. It was surprisingly well decorated. We ascended out of the cellars to a tasting room, in which we were offered four wines: their "first" and "second" rosés, and the same of their reds. The Aixois countryside is not typically known for its red- 85% of all wine produced there is rosé- but Chateau Vignelaure is an exception, facilitated by its specific soil type. We were able to order wine at a discount (we had paid handily for the tour, of course).

We then walked through the gardens and out to the vineyard, where the owner showed us the grapes and explained the idea of "terrois," or taste as determined by land. It was a beautiful day, but hot à la Provence, and I was eager to sit for lunch. We were treated to three courses and wine at a local restaurant. Afterwards we returned to pick up our wine purchases and headed home.

On Sunday, Brian, Jen, Erica, Lizzie and I returned to Cassis, the beach town to where we had gone on our first excursion. I had a bit of a stomach ache and decided to stay in town along with Erica and Lizzie, while Jen and Brian explored the Calanques to the west of town. I had a bit of beach time and swimming before I retreated from the sun to a café where I read and sipped tea, and later ate ice cream. Cassis was as pleasant as ever, but much more crowded given that it is now high season for tourists from outside Europe. American English is now the official language of southern France. For some reason this annoys me, when in reality I am no longer judged for speaking only basic French. I still view the rest of the invaders as tourists much more so than myself.

Later,
Alex